The Federal Government will inject five to 10 million Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders into the market in the next one year.
Mr Dayo Adeshina, Programme Manager, National LPG Expansion Implementation Plan said this in Lagos on Wednesday at a sensitisation workshop on LPG Adoption and Implementation for Industry Stakeholders.
Adeshina stated that this was to improve safety and deepen LPG utilisation, also known as cooking gas, in the country adding that the National LPG Expansion Implementation Plan, domiciled in the Office of the Vice President, was committed to achieving Nigeria’s target of five million Metric Tons of LPG consumption annually by 2027.
He said, “The Federal Government is working towards injecting five to 10 million cooking gas cylinders into the market within the next one year. We are starting the cylinder injection under the first phase in 11 pilot states and FCT, with two states from each of the geopolitical zones.
“The states are Lagos, Ogun, Bauchi, Gombe, Katsina, Sokoto, Delta, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Enugu, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory. The cylinders will be injected through the marketers. The marketers will be responsible for the cylinders and the exchange will take place in homes and not in filling stations.
“What this means is that going forward, cylinders will not be owned by individuals but by the marketers who will ensure that they are safe for usage.’’
Adeshina said Nigeria has gas reserve of 203TCF, adding that the government was desirous of collaborating with stakeholders to ensure its utilisation for development purposes adding that apart from household consumption, government was also moving to increase LPG usage in agriculture, transportation and manufacturing.
According to him, this will enable the country to reduce CO2 emission by about 20 per cent and create millions of jobs for Nigerians.
Adeshina said apart from investment in infrastructure, the government had also granted waivers on importation of LPG equipment and removed Value Added Tax (VAT) on LPG.
